My Rotary - I didn't think that I could afford it.

Blacksmiths Forge Visit

Bosworth Battlefield

Change over night

Christmas Collection

Ready to marshal the Poppy Run

Spencer Trophy Putting Night

Many things are very different when you are up close to them compared to when you are some distance away - Rotary can be one of them.

When I was in my twenties I went along to a Rotary meeting in Walsall with a friend who was then the manager of a local insurance company. It was a lunchtime meeting lasting an hour. All the men (it was all men back then) seemed to be well heeled local business types trying to impress each other. It was obvious that I couldn’t afford to join a group like that.

A number of years later I bumped into an old friend of mine who had been in the Scouts with me and found out that he was a Rotarian so I asked if I could join them. I have now been with them for ten years and have had the pleasure and privilege of being their president for one of those years.

Rotary has changed and is changing – it now takes women (hurrah), it much more relaxed, you don’t have to be as well off as those men appeared to be all those years ago and it’s not so stuffy!

From a personal point of view I enjoy our weekly meetings – there’s a little leg pulling and banter as you would expect and we get a chance to raise substantial amounts of money for local, national and international charities. The charity that I am most impressed with is the Polio Plus campaign. Have a look on the website for more details.

Why not come along to one of our Thursday evening meetings at DHGC you will get a warm welcome and if you ask for Jeremy I promise I’ll buy you a drink!